DEFENCE MATERIAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 May 1939, Page 6

DEFENCE MATERIAL

HEAVY OUTLAY PROPOSED BY GOVERNMENT TWO MILLIONS TO BE SPENT UVtKStAS. FINANCE TO BE DISCUSSED IN LONDON. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, May 3. All branches of New Zealand’s defence organisation will share in the expenditure of £2,000,000 incurred overseas by the Government for the arma- Y. ments programme to be carried out / . during the current year. “It will be the largest amount drawn from the Dominion’s sterling funds in peace time for defence purposes,” said the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, before leaving Auckland by the Monterey for London. “This expenditure is essential in order to carry out the Government’s immediate commitments in connection with defence. The munitions and equipment to be imported cannot be produced in the Dominion, therefore they must be obtained from Britain or from other parts of the Empire.” , \ Included in the equipment, he said, would be aeroplanes, bombs, and much material, required chiefly for the expansion of the Air Force. There would also be considerable purchases for the " x land forces and for the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. Discussions wotild probably take place with the British Government aocut the provision of finance to assist in building up the defence forces.